In today’s world, people are becoming ever more conscious of the ways their behavior impacts the planet. Everything we consider a modern convenience, from electricity right down to how we do our laundry, can hurt the environment. One way to reduce your carbon footprint is to build your own DIY clothesline. Of course, you can
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Green Products
Bamboo Furniture
Bamboo Furniture
Kitchen Gardening: Sprout Your Own Seeds
Sprouted seeds contain vitamins and calories while bringing a garden to any space. You don’t need special tools or seeds to have a sprout garden either.
Tiny House Plans
When looking for blueprints and designs for building your tiny house, the search can be arduous and overwhelming. With all the options on the internet and in books it can be hard to know which ones are worth using. Look for tiny house plans that come with detailed instructions explaining how to construct the house,
Whole Tree Architecture
Whole Tree Architecture
Tiny House Interiors
Creativity is essential when planning and designing the interior of your tiny house. Trying to incorporate your kitchen, bedroom, living room and bathroom into an average of 200 sq. ft. is tricky. With the rise in people living tiny, there has been an increase in innovative designs that have come out to help incorporate all
Tiny House Bathrooms
The most compact part of a tiny house, square footage to function, is the bathroom. So much utility is squeezed out of this small area, itโs vital to make every unit of space as efficient as possible. This guide will help maximize your bathroom design for your tiny house, as well as offer some money-saving
How Much Does It Cost To Customize A Tiny House?
If youโve researched buying a tiny house you know prices are usually listed as a โstarting price,โ just like new cars are. Why? Because a tiny house is too personal for a one-size-fits-all option to work. So builders offer options to match a customer’s budget or lifestyle. Someone doing a lot of outdoor work might
40 Smart Uses For Dryer Sheets In Your Home And Garden
When you put laundry in a dryer, static builds up on the clothes, sheets, and towels that bounce and tumble in the heat. Throwing in a dryer sheet can reduce static cling and leave your clothes smelling fresh. That said, dryer sheets have gained a bad reputation because they contain quaternary ammonium compounds that can
20 Fun Sewing Projects To Tackle This Weekend
Sewing, a skill that lasts a lifetime, is an integral part of the homestead lifestyle. The hands-on, learn-as-you-go experience of creating something useful and beautiful with your own hands, is simply irreplaceable. For decades, homesteaders excelled at mending and sewing to ensure their families were warm and properly clothed. For todayโs modern homesteader, sewing is
Can I Compost Flour?
You can efficiently process flour into nutrient-rich compost, but doing so presents some composting challenges. Learn more about the best practices, potential issues, and alternative disposal options of flour waste.
Can I Compost Avocado?
Avocado is a popular fruit, flexible for various dishes. The resulting avocado wastes, however, can be used for composting, instead of contributing to landfill wastes.
Eating Acorns: From Foraging To Cooking & Recipes
The first summer my family and I moved to our homestead, we were not able to get a garden into the rocky, wild ground, but somehow we had a fantastic fall harvest and started accumulating jars of dry goods from the plenty. How was this possible? One surprising wordโฆ acorns.
What, How, and When to Plant Vegetables [Infographic]
For all you urban farmers out there, here’s an infographic about how and when to plant vegetables, plus a few of my own urban farm lessons learned. Enjoy!
How to Get Started With Spinning Wool and Plant Fibers
One of the greatest acts of self-reliance outside of gardening and preserving your own food, is becoming crafty to the point you can knit, crochet, and weave all that you need not buy from the store. When the chores are done for the day and you have made yourself comfortable on the homestead, it is
Can I Compost Pine Needles?
Pine trees commonly produces heaps of pine needles, ready for compost use. However, you need to learn some precautionary measures and other useful tips to effectively transform them into beneficial compost.
Planter Box Plans
Create a true gardenscape by moving your plants beyond the pot. Create your own planter boxes with these free online designs. I searched the internet to try and find a planter box to match just about any urban homestead and found some really great projects. Planter Box Plans for All Kinds of Homesteads Carpentry projects
13 DIY Halloween Decoration Ideas
Halloween is right around the corner and you probably need some decorations if you want to have the spookiest looking house in the neighborhood. Purchasing seasonal home decor can get expensive, and it is not environmentally friendly to buy cheap products you will likely dispose of within a year or two. When you make a
Beekeeping as a business
Beekeeping is a hobby that you can easily turn into a side-business no matter where you live. Keeping bees requires a relatively small monetary investment to get started and can turn a profit within a few short years. There are many non-monetary benefits to keeping bees like better garden yields, fresh honey, and a feeling
Outdoor Stone Ovens: What Are They, How Do They Work, And Photos
We’ve recently put out quite a few articles on ways that you can build an oven to cook food with the most ancient of methods: fire. So far, we’ve got articles on Outdoor Brick Ovens, (largely indoor) Masonry Ovens, and Outdoor Earthen Ovens. But of all the materials that you can build with, nothing speaks
Eco Friendly Tips To Redecorate Your Living Room
These eco-friendly redecorating tip for your living room will save you money and help the environment all at the same time. EPA reported in 2009 that 9.9 million tons of furniture were thrown in the landfills compared to only 2.2 million tons in 1960, that is an increase of 450%! If you compared the increase
tentree Holiday Gift Guide
When you’re on the search for the perfect gift this holiday season, you may feel yourself completely overwhelmed and inundatedย by the number of newspaper advertisements and holiday sales there are to choose from. If you’re anything like us here at Insteading, you’re keeping your eye out for a high-quality gift that your family and friends
Can I Compost Tomatoes?
Not only are tomatoes beneficial for your health, but they’re also good for your compost. Correct preparation, and optimal compost conditions will yield the best compost quality and prevent potential problems.
27 Cheap Lunch Ideas
Whether you have a 9 to 5 job in an office or youโre someone who works from home, your stomach will inevitably start to grumble around midday. As a freelancer, I usually start to get hungry around noon, but I donโt always have a prepared lunch on hand. The best days are those when I
A Guide To Organizing A Log Cabin
After moving to our mountain cabin, it took us over a year to find the best ways to organize it. We had to learn how to get creative with our space and think about storage in new ways. How you organize the space is key. If you do it well, you can maximize small corners,
How to Find & Store Cheap Leftover Pumpkins After Halloween
I have been waiting for this day all fall. Specifically, Iโve been counting down the days until November 1. You see, now that the money-grabbing fall holiday has passed, the money-grabbing winter holiday is steamrolling its plastic, glittery way into place. Thereโs no room for the two to share. Thus, anything fall-themed absolutely needs to
15 Delicious Sous Vide Recipes
Translating to “under vacuum” in French, sous vide is a process where food is vacuum-sealed in a bag and cooked at a precise temperature in a water bath. There are a few different reasons people chose this method or style of preparing food. Consistency Taste Flexibility Waste Reduction There are two main types of sous
How to Get Maggots to Take Over Your Kitchen, On Purpose (w/ video)
In the future, we’re going to be eating bugs. I think that’s the real message of schmeat and the Eat-a-Bug cookbook. Oh, and that thing, up there. It’s called the Farm 432, and it promises to turn 1 gram of black fly maggots larvae into 2.4 kilograms of high-protein, low-fat black fly maggots larvae every
Growing Herbs Indoors
The long, cold, winter months or even the fate of living in a small apartment are not enough to stifle the need for fresh herbs. The smell of basil, the sight of green cilantro, is something that we should be able to enjoy all year round, no matter where we live. If itโs the weather,
Can I Compost Wine Corks?
Some types of wine corks are fine to compost, but other types should never go to your compost. Aside from a nutrient-rich compost, wine enthusiasts can transform natural corks into beautiful art or useful garden mulch.
How To Start Transplants
Winter’s almost over. Have you started your plants yet? This gardener can proudly say yes! In the late winter months, serious gardeners begin asking one another this question. As the daughter of a serious gardener, I learned at a young age that if you want to grow your own peppers and tomatoes here in Minnesota,
Plastic Bottle Lights
Plastic waste lights, plastic bottle lamps…
DIY Worm Composting Solution for Under $20
Living off the grid – whether by choice or by chance – is all about efficiency. You need to learn to make the most of your land, your water, and even your food waste. That’s where worm composting comes in. Worm composting makes use of mealworms and earthworms to create a valuable soil additive called
Raising Pekin Ducks
When you think โduckโ what image do you see? I bet for a majority of people, the endearingly chubby, orange-billed and white-feathered barnyard duck leaps (or rather waddles) into your mindโs eye. That duck is the Pekin. This duck breed is by far the most popular of the domesticated duck breeds, and its popularity has
How To Grow Victory Gardens
During both World War I and World War II, people with land (even small parcels) planted victory gardens — also known as war gardens or food gardens for defense. It was a means to feed the family, to supplement the restrictions enforced with rationing, and to ease the food chain. Victory gardens provided people with
Soil pH: What It Is And Why It’s Important
I know, I know, as youโre browsing all the excellent articles on Insteading, you see that this one is about soil pH and you probably want to just gloss on past it. When there are tomatoes to pluck, chickens to chase, and compost to turn, rehashing 9th-grade chemistry terms might seem a bit dry. BUT
Basics of Metal Woodstoves
When heating with wood, there are many options in choosing a wood-burning appliance. Some will choose to build a masonry oven that functions not only as a heater, but also as a beautiful centerpiece in their home. Others, especially those living in a small space like a tiny home or cabin, will choose some form
17 Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipes To Save You Money
It wasnโt until I began my journey toward a more eco-friendly lifestyle, that I found out there are many things you can make yourself. Many common household items that you can make, will save you money and are good for the planet. If you take a look at the ingredients in major brands of laundry
Live Edge Slab Furniture
Although it may seem like the modernized live edge wood slab furniture is a relatively new trend, it began and was popularized back in the 1940โs by furniture designer George Nakashima. The widespread appeal is easy to understand. Each piece is unique, telling its own story, and standing out as the focal point of the
17 Of The Best Hanging Plants To Add Beautiful Greenery To Your Home
One of the most recent trends in home decor includes adding greenery to your home. Hanging baskets allow you to grow beautiful plants without sacrificing counter space. Hanging plants can add greenery inside your home and have been proven over and over to have positive impacts on your health and the air quality in your
10 Probiotic-Rich Foods That Are Even Better Than Yogurt
Move over, yogurt! These probiotic rich foods are even better.
Where Do Chickens Come From?
Do you know where your chickens come from? Not the store, or the farm, or even the breeder, but where the species first arose? Until fairly recently, neither did scientists. The chicken, so ubiquitous in our diets and increasingly in our backyards, have largely been ignored by scholars of domesticated animals. Cows, goats, even sheep
Homestead Stories: The Monkey Orchid
If my Insteading readers have been following the orchid stories, youโll know how much I love this charming plant. Thereโs my general, informative article on orchids, the unusually-shaped bat flower, and the swaddled babies. I keep finding more orchid varieties as I browse the local nurseries or share my discoveries with friends. I want to
What Is Spilanthes?
Would you like to cultivate unique species in your garden that serve dual functions? Do you have toothaches and pains? Fungus infections? Are you in need of enhancing your digestion or immunity? Or are maybe just curious about plants that can serve these purposes? This probably sounds like an advertisement — but if you answered
10 Unexpectedly Edible Leaves in Your Garden
The resourceful and knowledgeable homesteader knows that thereโs plenty of food to be grown overhead and underfoot. But thereโs an unexpected cache of food that often goes unnoticed — the leaves of more plants than you may guess! Weโre accustomed to eating lettuce leaves and kale leaves, of course, but you can also harvest greens
13 Year Old Copies Nature to Improve Solar Performance
Thirteen year old Aidan Dwyerย was walking in the woods in Upstate New York in the winter and noticed a spiral pattern to tree branches. Aidan realized the tree branches and leaves had a mathematical spiral pattern that could be shown as a fraction. After some research he also realized the mathematical fractions were the same
Sustainability 101: Wash Your Car Without Wasting Water
If you wash your car at home once a month, it can use up to 6,000 gallons of water a year. Here are 4 ways to keep your ride clean without the waste.
Eco Sports Cars
Porsche 918 Spyder Plug-in Hybrid prototype (all of Porsche’s concept cars have been brought to market) has emission levels of just 70 grams CO2 per kilometre on fuel consumption of three litres/100 kilometres (equal to 94 mpg imp). Acceleration from a standstill to 100 km/h in just under 3.2 seconds, top speed of 320 km/h
The Urban Lumberjack – The Accidental Eco-Warrior of the City
Urban lumberjacking is a new term that has been coined to describe a growing core of people who seek lumber in urban situations. Typically the urban lumberjackโs activities include diving into skips (dumpsters) and rubbish bins in an attempt to find the precious wood stored within. The great thing about the army of urban lumberjacks